The Way You Die Tonight (20 page)

‘Too soon,' I said. ‘Let's see what kind of student Madge says he is.'

‘So whatta we do now?'

‘Back to work on Helen's murder. Let's plan our snatch of the manager of the Happy Devil.'

I
t wasn't hard to find out that the listed manager of the Happy Devil was named Francis D'Auria. I was able to do that with a quick phone call.

Out in the Caddy Jerry said, ‘You know what I'm thinkin'?'

‘Yeah,' I said, ‘we need to find out if this club is connected.'

‘That's what I'm thinkin'.'

‘Let's go to Fremont Street,' I said. ‘I think I know who to ask.'

‘The dick?'

‘No,' I said. ‘I'll tell you when we get there.'

Jerry shrugged and gunned the engine.

We parked behind the Horseshoe and walked up to Fremont Street. Across from Danny's office was an arcade. Jerry and I had used it a few months before to do some surveillance. Its clientele was less than desirable, as was its owner, but the place was connected.

‘Angie Vadala owns this place,' I explained as we entered. ‘He knows who and what's connected in Vegas, especially when it comes to sleaze.'

A hooker was off in a corner making a deal with a john. She was young and overly made-up. Everything was for sale here except drugs. The ‘boys' weren't into the drug trade in Vegas, but I suspected Angie had his way of getting around that.

Even though Dutch Schultz and Meyer Lansky were involved in drug trafficking early on, the Italians stayed out of it. The Mafia was, after all, about ‘family', and the bosses hated to think of their own kids being able to buy drugs. But that had changed to some extent. Lucky Luciano was one of the first Mafia bosses to get involved with drugs, and after he was deported Genovese and Gambino took over. But Genovese was sent to prison in 1959 on drug charges. Some thought that Luciano had engineered this from exile in Italy. This left Gambino in power. Luciano died of a heart attack in 1962, when he was meeting with a movie producer in Naples International Airport to discuss a possible film biography. (A film did eventually get made about Luciano, but not until 1973.)

But as far as I knew then, Vegas was still off limits when it came to drugs.

We walked through the arcade, careful not to touch anything – that included skittle tables, pinball machines, and people.

In the back was a door with OFFICE written on it. No plate or fancy lettering, just OFFICE scrawled on the door itself. Classy.

I knocked, and then opened it. A painfully thin hooker, probably younger than the one outside, leaped to her feet, her hand going to her heavily lipsticked mouth.

‘Jesus Christ – oh, hey, Eddie,' Angie said, hastily doing up his pants. ‘Hey, bud, ya gotta knock, ya know?'

‘Sure, Angie.'

‘I'll see you later, babe,' he said to the girl.

‘My money,' she said.

‘We didn't finish—'

‘That ain't my fault!' she whined.

‘I said later!' Angie growled, trying to sound tough. It wasn't easy. He had a weak chin, a receding hairline and a distinctive pot belly.

‘Pay the girl, Angie,' I said.

‘Hey, Eddie, come on,' he said. ‘This is my business, ya know?'

‘Jerry …' I said.

Jerry moved in on Angie, whose weak chin began to quiver.

‘Pay her!' Jerry said.

Hastily, Angie went into his pocket, came out with some crumpled bills and offered them to the girl. The girl took the money, then turned to me.

‘Thanks, mister,' she said, her wide eyes ringed by so much mascara she looked like a raccoon. I doubted she was fifteen. ‘If ya wanna do somethin' later—'

‘Go home, sweetie,' I said.

‘Sure, but—'

‘Go home!' Jerry said.

She looked up at Jerry with wide eyes, then hurried from the room.

‘Who's the gorilla, Eddie?' Angie asked, still trying to be tough.

‘Don't get him mad, Angie,' I said. ‘He'll tear off your arms.'

Angie self-consciously folded his arms.

‘Whataya want, Eddie?'

‘The Happy Devil.'

‘A sex club,' he said. ‘Kinda high end. What about it?'

‘Is it connected?'

‘Well, sure.'

‘What about the manager? A guy named D'Auria.'

‘Frankie D.,' he said. ‘He's connected, but he ain't much of nothin'.'

‘Chicago?' I asked.

‘Cleveland.'

Well, at last I knew he wasn't working for Momo Giancana.

‘You gonna do 'im?' Angie asked. ‘Nobody'll care. They'll just put somebody else in his place.'

‘Nobody's doin' nobody, Angie,' I said. ‘I'm just interested in knowing who I'm dealing with.'

‘What's your beef with him?'

‘Never mind,' I said. ‘Just go back to work and don't worry about it.'

We turned to leave, but I stopped short.

‘Angie.'

‘Yeah?'

‘If you should think about callin' Frankie D., don't. I wouldn't like it.'

‘Mr G. wouldn't like it,' Jerry said, moving close to Angie. ‘And neither would I!'

‘Yeah, s-sure, OK,' Angie said, holding his hands out in front of him. ‘No problem.' He was speaking directly to Jerry. ‘Me and Mr G. – I mean, Eddie – we're pals, ya know?'

‘Yeah,' I said, ‘pals.'

As we walked through the arcade we saw the girl from the office in a corner with a middle-aged man. She was on her knees in front of him, her head bobbing up and down.

‘Want me to scare her away?' Jerry asked.

‘No,' I said, ‘she knows what she's doing, I guess. Forget it.'

W
e decided we needed to change our clothes, something more appropriate to what Jerry called ‘a snatch'.

First we drove to my house, because it was the furthest away from Fremont Street.

Jerry waited in the kitchen while I pulled on a black sweater, dark blue jeans and black shoes and socks. I came out and grabbed a black windbreaker from the closet.

‘Mr G.,' Jerry said, coming out of the kitchen, ‘you got nothing in your fridge to eat.'

‘Well, I haven't been able to do much shopping, lately.'

‘We're gonna have to eat before we make this snatch.'

‘OK,' I promised, ‘after we go back so you can change, we'll get something to eat.'

‘You know,' he said, as we left the house and walked to the Caddy, ‘I learned a long time ago I don't do so well on an empty stomach.'

‘How do you know?' I asked.

‘Huh?'

‘Come on, Jerry,' I said, as we got into the car, ‘when is your stomach ever empty?'

Jerry changed into clothes similar to mine, all dark. We still had time before we were to meet Danny, so we went down to the Garden Café to fill his stomach. And I had to admit, I was hungry, too.

‘You two look like twins,' Lily said, ‘except for, you know, the size difference.'

‘Lily,' I said, ‘I'm glad to see you're OK.'

‘Didn't Jerry tell you? He took me home and saw me to my door, like a gentleman.'

‘No, we really haven't had time to discuss last night in depth,' I said.

‘Speaking of which, what happened to you after I left?' she asked.

‘Mr G. hooked up.'

‘Well, well …'

‘I met a woman who had helpful information,' I said, hoping Jerry would let it go at that.

No such luck.

‘And he went home with her.'

‘Wow,' she said, ‘that's a rare occurrence. All the hook-ups take place in the club. We don't usually see each other outside. Outside those walls we're all very different people. She must have really liked you. Who was it?'

‘Her club name was Jewel.'

‘Jewel,' Lily said, ‘I don't think I know her.'

‘What do you know about drugs being dealt in the club?'

‘I know it's done, but that's not my scene, man.' She gave us a saucy grin and added, ‘Sex is my drug of choice.'

Jerry blushed.

‘Was I helpful to you, Eddie?' she asked.

‘You were, Lily,' I said. ‘We got some information we can act on. Thank you.'

‘No sweat,' she said. ‘You guys gonna order?'

I said the first thing that came to mind.

‘Burger platter for me.'

‘Same for me,' Jerry said. ‘Extra fries.'

She put her hand on Jerry's shoulder, squeezed it and said, ‘I'll even add a second burger, on me.'

As she walked away and Jerry watched her I said, ‘I forgot to ask what happened when you drove her home last night.'

‘Like she said, I took her to her door.' He gave me a pointed look. ‘I had to get back to the club to see what you were doin'.'

‘I know,' I said. ‘Sorry.'

Lily brought our platters and we plowed through them. I don't know why, but whenever I was around Jerry it seemed to affect my appetite. When he stayed in Vegas for any extended period of time, I gained weight.

‘Where do you think the shamus is gonna have us take D'Auria.'

‘I don't know,' I said, ‘but it'll be someplace out of the way.'

‘Good,' Jerry said. ‘I don't like askin' people questions quietly. So we can be as loud as we want – and so can he.'

Jerry was obviously looking forward to this.

W
hen we walked into Danny's office he said, ‘Holy shit.'

He was dressed the same way we were.

‘I guess black is in,' he said. ‘Are we ready?'

‘Ready,' I said. ‘Where are we taking him?'

‘A house I've used before,' he said. ‘It's in a rundown neighborhood and there's really nothing around it.'

‘Good,' Jerry said.

‘Are we going to use the Caddy?' I asked.

‘Why not? We'll blindfold him.'

‘OK, then,' I said. ‘Jerry, you wanna pull the Caddy up front?'

‘Sure, Mr G.'

Jerry left and I looked at Danny.

‘The big guy seems ready,' he said.

‘Maybe too ready,' I said. ‘Could be this guy'll tell us what we want to know willingly.'

‘You find out if the place is connected?'

‘Supposedly.'

‘Then he'll act tough, at least at the beginning,' Danny said. ‘We may just have to let Jerry do what Jerry does.'

‘We'll see.'

We went downstairs, where Jerry sat in the Caddy with the motor running.

It was late when we left Danny's, about one a.m. We knew that the club stayed open late, but we didn't know if the manager stayed the whole time. We needed to find out if he was still there.

We should have done it before we left Danny's office, but we stopped along the way at a pay phone and I called the club.

‘Yeah?' somebody said.

‘Is Frankie there?'

‘The manager?'

‘You got another Frankie there?'

‘Hold on.'

The guy put the phone down. In a few moments it was picked up again.

‘Yeah, this is Frankie.'

‘Wrong number.' I hung up and went back to the car. ‘He's there.'

‘What if the call makes him nervous and he runs?' Jerry asked.

‘We'll be there before that happens,' I said. ‘Drive.'

We pulled up across the street from the club, a few doors down. It was only minutes since the phone call. I doubted Frankie had left by then.

‘What about another way out?' I asked.

‘The alley,' Danny said. ‘If he has a car in the alley he still has to drive it out this way. I'm thinkin' his car is one of these on the street.'

‘OK,' I said, ‘so we wait. Maybe the call will drive him out.'

‘Only if he's got something to hide,' Danny said.

‘Well, if he's connected,' I said, ‘and he's selling drugs in the club, or letting somebody sell drugs there, he just might.'

And that must have been the case, because we only waited half an hour when the front door opened and a beefy guy came out.

‘That's him,' Danny said. ‘Let's go.'

Danny and I leaped over the seats while Jerry opened his door and got out. Danny rushed ahead of us to face Frankie D.

‘Hey! Remember me?'

Frankie turned, frowned at Danny, and then recognition dawned.

‘You!' he said. ‘What the fuck—'

He stopped when he was grabbed from behind by Jerry's strong hands. The big guy pinned Frankie's arms behind him.

‘Ow! Hey, what the fuck?'

I stood in front of Frankie.

‘You've got one chance to end this right here on the street,' I told him. ‘Who's selling drugs in your place?'

‘What? Drugs? I don't allow no drugs in my place.' I might have believed him if he hadn't immediately started to sweat. I looked at Danny, who shook his head. He didn't believe him, either.

‘OK,' I said, ‘I gave you a chance.' I took out a cloth Danny had supplied and tied it around his eyes.

‘Hey, wha … help!' he started, but Jerry clamped a big hand over his mouth and dragged him across the street to the Caddy. I unlocked the trunk and Jerry lifted him up and dumped him inside. Before closing it we tied his hands behind him and bound his feet. He immediately began beating on the inside with his feet, but he wasn't getting out.

‘OK,' Danny said, ‘let's remember when we get there, no names, right?'

‘Right,' I said.

Jerry nodded.

‘OK, let's go,' Danny said. ‘Jerry, I'll give you directions.'

We hopped into the Caddy and got away without anyone seeing us.

T
he house was a small, dilapidated A-frame exactly as Danny had described it. There was nothing else around.

We dragged Frankie D. out of the trunk and Jerry pretty much drag-carried him into the house. There was a sturdy wooden chair in the middle of an empty living room. Danny had obviously spent time setting the place up. All the windows were covered with brown paper.